Innocence
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: "Velvet, I wanna help you!" Blake reached forward and took her hand again. "Please tell me! I'm your friend, right?" Velvet blinked one eye up at her, peering past her bangs. She nodded. "Then tell me what's wrong." Blake pleaded. [Younger Blake&Velet].


**Here's a treat; two fics in a day, both Blake & Velvet! I was talking to a friend and just got ideas and an hour later here we are. Too impatient to wait to post it ahaha.**

**IMPORTANT A/N: This takes place in the past, so Velvet and Blake are younger, probably like 6 or 7, a bit before Blake likely got involved with rallies and whatnot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

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Innocence

"Velvet?" Blake knocked on her best friend's bedroom door with a hesitant fist. "Are you okay?"

The bunny-eared girl had not come to school today – or yesterday – and Blake was starting to get worried since she had not been called or told what was wrong. She had asked her parents if she could visit her friend today after school, and they had said yes, so here she was.

Velvet's mother had said she was in her room, had been all day, but she had told Blake that Velvet would probably let her in if she knocked.

Blake tried again, knocking four times – their secret number. "Velvet?" Her ears twitched when she heard some shuffling from the other side of the door. Blake took a step back as the door knob turned, and through a tiny sliver, a familiar face looked back at her.

"Velvet! There you are!" Blake tried to give her a hug through the crack that had opened in the door, but the other girl quickly stepped back.

"N-No!" She squeaked. "D-Don't come near me!" She tried to close the door, but Blake slipped her shoe in to stop it.

"Wait! What's wrong? You can tell me. Honest!" Her golden eyes trembled with concern as Blake finally got a good look at her friend.

Velvet was wearing a pink dress with long sleeves and white socks, as though she had been ready to go to school that day. But atop her head, Velvet's ears were covered, wrapped with a white towel, and her eyes were wide and scared; seeing her like that made Blake's ears flatten. She swallowed.

"What's wrong with your ears? You can tell me..." She tried again, slipping her arm into the room, reaching out her upturned palm. Velvet sniffled as she looked at Blake's hand, her dark eyes flicking up to her friend's face briefly.

Then, she slowly slipped her fingers into Blake's and the black-haired girl smiled. Velvet opened the door all the way, leading her into her bedroom before closing the door again. She kept her back turned toward Blake, head bowed shamefully until she realized their hands were still touching.

"Ah!" Velvet quickly let go of her, scrambling back a few steps. "I-I'm sorry, Blake!"

"No, it's okay!" Blake reached out to her again, wanting to hold her hand once more. "Just... tell me what's wrong. Please? I've..." Her gaze went to the floor, making Velvet upset; she wanted to see those eyes again. "I've missed you, Velvet..." The brown-haired girl sniffed again, feeling a sting in her eyes.

"I... I've missed you too, Blake. It's just I... I couldn't go to school... m-my ears..."

Blake lifted her eyes again, her own ears flat with concern.

"What is it?"

Velvet whimpered, shaking her head.

"Velvet, I wanna help you!" Blake reached forward and took her hand again. "Please tell me! I'm your friend, right?" Velvet blinked one eye up at her, peering past her bangs. She nodded. "Then tell me what's wrong." Blake pleaded. She looked like she was about to cry, and Velvet felt guilty, so she decided to tell her.

"It's... I-I've got..." Her cheeks turned pink as she pawed the air with her free hand, beckoning her friend closer. Blake leaned in, lending her ear as Velvet whispered the dreaded word: "_Fleas_!"

Silence filled the room for a minute, and Velvet squeezed her eyes shut, expecting Blake to push her away or squeal or cry or laugh at her like the others had done to her two days ago when Velvet herself had found out.

But Blake's hand squeezed tighter to hers, causing Velvet to open her eyes again. Blake was smiling.

"Fleas? It's okay, Velvet!" Blake gave her hand a tug, bringing her closer so Blake could wrap her arms around her. "All of us get them sometimes! I remember the first time I got them... my ears were so itchy!" She squeezed her friend tighter. "I thought... something happened to you..." Her voice wavered. "I was... really scared... You didn't call me..."

Velvet whimpered again as Blake pulled her in, wriggling a little, not wanting to spread the bugs to her. But Blake really sounded like she was going to cry.

"Blake...?" Velvet hugged her back gently. "I'm sorry. I didn't... want you to laugh at me..."

"Laugh at you?!" Blake wailed as the tears spilled down her cheeks. "Velvet, I would _never_ laugh at you! You're my best friend!" She began to hiccup into her friend's shoulder.

Velvet panicked. "B-B-Blake, are you okay? P-Please d-don't..." She sniffled again. "D-Don't cry... i-if you cry, t-then I'll..."

It was too late. Tears started to drip down her face as well, and before long, Velvet was burrowing her face into Blake's shoulder in return.

The two little girls fell to their knees hugging each other and crying and apologizing.

It was a few minutes before Blake sniffed enough times to stop the tears, swallowing to clear her throat. She pulled away and stared into Velvet's eyes.

"You silly goose!" She puffed out one cheek. "I'll never laugh at you, Velvet! Never ever! Not in a mean way. I wanna laugh _with_ you! All the time! So don't ever make me worry like that again, okay?"

"I...I'm sorry..." The other girl hiccuped, causing the towel on her head to unravel a bit. "Ah! Y-You should go! I don't want you getting them, too!"

"Of course not!" Blake refused. "I'm not leaving you! Didn't your Mommy give you some medicine? When I got them, my Mommy rubbed it on my ears until all the fleas went away. Do you have some?"

Velvet nodded once, pointing to the small table beside her bed. "Mama gave it to me. She said she would do it for me, but I know she has a lot of work to do, so I said I could do it. B-But it's really hard... they kept jumping up... s-so I..." She trailed off, her eyes flicking guiltily up to the towel on her head.

Blake smiled a little. "I get it. Then let me do the medicine for you!" She jumped to her feet and dashed across the room to retrieve the container of cream. It had a sharp scent that made her wince, but she knew it was the same stuff her own mother had used on her when Blake had the fleas.

"It's alright, Blake! You don't have to do that!" Velvet tried to stop her.

But Blake shook her head. "It's fine! Let me help you!" Blake went back to her, offering Velvet her hand. The smaller girl blinked again before taking it.

Blake pulled her up and lead her to her bed. "This is more comfy than the floor." She explained, pulling Velvet to the center. Blake knelt down behind her, opening the container of cream and placing it aside as she slowly unraveled the towel on her friend's head.

Velvet sat with her shoulders hunched in embarrassment, wishing she could disappear as Blake revealed her ears. Blake frowned when she saw them, drooped over and ruffled from being kept constricted under the towel for so long. But her sharp eyes could easily see the tiny specks flicking about through the matted fur, and a small growl escaped her throat.

Velvet jumped.

"B-Blake?" She turned back to find her friend had snagged a tissue from a box on the bedside table, ignoring the medicine altogether. "What are you-?"

Blake looked back to her in surprise before smiling a little.

"Don't worry. I'm gonna get 'em all!"

"Wh-What do you-?"

"Just trust me!"

Blake placed a hand on Velvet's shoulder, turning her back around. Velvet did as Blake instructed, sitting still, waiting.

Blake's eyes narrowed to slits as she focused on her friend's ears. She waited a few seconds until a flea leaped up into the air. With her speedy reflexes, Blake shot her hand out, catching it in the tissue between her fingers and squishing it. She dropped the flea into the waste bin below them before returning her eyes to Velvet.

Blake continued to catch the fleas skillfully, one after the other, and Velvet could feel her ears getting less and less itchy as she continued. Blake would growl a little bit sometimes before lashing out with a triumphant "gotcha!" before going in for the next one.

About fifteen minutes later, Blake no longer saw the tiny dots jumping about. She sat back a little, smiling happily, letting the tissue fall into the trash.

"There! You're all better, Velvet!"

The other girl's ears lifted slowly, no longer weighed down by the fat little bloodsuckers. It was clear that Blake was right; she could not feel them anymore. Velvet turned excitedly back to her friend.

"T-Thank you, Blake!" She cried, throwing her arms around her. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

"No need to thank me!" Blake laughed, returning the hug, stroking her fingers through Velvet's soft hair. "Do your ears still itch?"

Velvet pulled back, cheeks pink. "A... A little..."

Blake continued to smile.

"Okay. I can help! Lie down."

"...Huh?"

"Just lie down! Here, put your head in my lap." She offered.

Velvet gave her a puzzled look. Blake nodded encouragingly.

"O...Okay..." Carefully, Velvet laid down on her side, resting her head in Blake's lap. A moment later, she felt a ticklish sensation on the tip of one ear. "Eep! B-Blake?" She squealed.

"Yes?"

"W-What are you doing?"

"Grooming!"

"H-Huh?"

"Your Mommy doesn't do this for you?" Blake's tongue hung out of her lips as she spoke. "Maybe it's just cat Faunus..." She leaned down to brush her tongue over the fur of Velvet's ears once more.

Velvet squealed again. "It tickles!"

"Yeah! A little bit, but it's better than being itchy, right?"

"Y-Yeah!" Velvet agreed.

She closed her eyes as Blake's sandpaper tongue continued to rasp over her ears, ruffling the fur a little as she went. It was not long before Velvet heard a purr rumbling from the other girl's chest as she continued to groom her ears.

Blake continued to tend to one of her ears, licking it repeatedly from the tip to the base before she was satisfied enough to switch to the other.

The rhythm of Blake's small tongue through her fur almost lulled Velvet to sleep, and had Blake continued a minute longer than she had, Velvet might have nodded off. She blinked her eyes open as Blake sat up.

"There! All done-"

Velvet was about to thank her when she heard Blake's voice cut off abruptly. She sat up quickly to find her friend coughing roughly into her elbow.

"B-Blake?!" She fretted. "Are you okay?"

Tears were clinging to Blake's eyes now as she continued to cough, covering her mouth with her hands. Velvet shakily patted her back, rubbing up and down as she opened her mouth to call for help.

But before she could speak, she noticed Blake's eyes looking at her before flicking to the box of tissues. Velvet nodded quickly, swooping down to grab one and handing it to her. Blake pressed the tissue to her mouth and coughed a few more times, Velvet rubbing her back all the while.

At last, her friend's fit ended as Blake hunched over, pulling the tissue away from her mouth, wiping her lips before tossing it into the garbage.

"Are you okay?" Velvet was on the verge of tears as she listened to her friend's painful breathing. Blake gasped a few more times before she finally sat up, laughing sheepishly.

"S-Sorry..." She mumbled. "Hairball."

Velvet blinked once before she let out a long sigh of relief.

Blake excused herself to the bathroom for a few minutes to rinse out her mouth and wash her hands before she returned to Velvet. She climbed back onto her bed and had Velvet turn around, finally dabbing her fingers into the medicinal cream. She rubbed it over her friend's ears gently.

"This will keep them from coming back, too." She said.

She finished within a few moments, twisting the lid back onto the container before placing it aside.

Velvet turned to face her and Blake sighed, hugging her one more time.

"I'm glad you're okay now, Velvet." She murmured.

"Thank you for helping me, Blake." Velvet curled her fingers through her friend's soft hair.

But she wanted to show her appreciation in another way as well.

After a few minutes, they pulled away and Velvet shyly leaned in to kiss Blake's cheek. The other girl blushed a little. "It's how we say thank you in my family! Maybe it's just the rabbit Faunus?"

Blake smiled and kissed her cheek in return.

Not long afterward, a call sounded from Velvet's mother, announcing supper.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Velvet asked with a smile as the two girls hopped onto the floor.

"I'd love to!" Blake beamed.

Their hands came together again, fingers entwining as they left the room.

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**A/N: I have no excuse. Hope you enjoyed!**

**Please review!**


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